# A Shortcut Through Time

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- Book: [A Shortcut Through Time](https://www.bookquiver.com/george-johnson/a-shortcut-through-time) ([A Shortcut Through Time.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/george-johnson/a-shortcut-through-time.md))
- Authors: [George Johnson](https://www.bookquiver.com/george-johnson)
- Publisher: Vintage Digital
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-14-0707-353-8
- Published: 2011-02-15
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

The newest Pentium chip powering PCs and laptops contains 40 million electronic switches packed onto a piece of silicon about the size of a thumbnail. Several years from now, if this incredible shrinking continues, a single chip will hold a billion switches, then a trillion. The logical culmination is a computer in which the switches are so tiny that each consists of an individual atom. At that point something miraculous happens: quantum mechanics kick in. Anyone who follows the science news or watches 'Star Trek' has at least a notion of what that means: particles can be in two or more places at once. Atoms obey a peculiar logic of their own - and if it can be harnessed society will be transformed. Problems that would now take forever would be solved almost instantly. Quantum computing promises nothing less than a shortcut through time.